Protecting Your Pulp and Paper Mill from Winter Storms

Protecting Your Pulp and Paper Mill from Winter Storms 2 of 10

This brochure is made available for informational purposes only in support of the insurance relationship between FM Global and its clients. This information does not change or supplement policy terms or conditions. The liability of FM Global is limited to that contained in its insurance policies.

When you think of the hazards that threaten a facility, fire, windstorm, earthquake and flooding are undoubt-edly among the first that come to mind. But what about freeze-ups and snow loading? If you’re located in an area that tends to experience rela-tively mild winters, chances are, both these perils were omitted from your list. A common fallacy about winter weather is that freezing temperatures and heavy snow are confined to parts of the world where harsh winters are the norm. But, unusual changes in the weather do occur and these changes are capable of casting warmer locales into a deep freeze that can rupture pipes and collapse roofs. If you’re not prepared when these changes take place, you could find yourself facing property damage, business inter-ruption or maybe even lost market share—all the makings of a multimil-lion dollar loss. If you happen to be a pulp and paper mill, your odds are even worse.

Experience has taught us that facili-ties in areas unaccustomed to severe cold and deep snow accumulation tend to suffer the largest and most costly winter weather losses because they’re not equipped to endure such harsh conditions. Many have little or no insulation or heating equipment, and much of their process or service

equipment is located outside, where it’s exposed to low temperatures.

However, experience also has taught us that certain occupancies are more prone to suffer large freeze losses than others, and pulp and paper is one of them. Historically, the largest loss-es from freezing have occurred in the pulp and paper industry, which uses a high volume of water in its daily operations. While such losses have occurred in all parts of the world, the most severe involved mills with open construction in the southern United States an area generally unprepared for extreme winter weather.

Although such harsh conditions can’t be avoided no matter where you’re located, their destructive impact on your facility and its operations can be prevented—or at least con-trolled—through sound preplanning. At FM Global, our engineers have the know-how and the resources they need to help you develop strong lines of defense against unexpected severe winter weather. With nearly 170 years of property loss prevention expertise guiding them, they can identify and recommend general measures that will prepare and protect your facil-ity against the problems brought on by freezing temperatures. And, their recommendations take into account the specific needs of your facility.

Historically, the largest losses from freezing have occured in the pulp and paper industry.

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Damage to one area can often result in damage to other areas. Before you know it, the whole chain of events has resulted in a large loss that could have been avoided.

Still not convinced freezing tempera-tures pose a threat to your facility? Then think about the impact an impair-ment would have on your business operations from beginning to end.

Many associate freeze losses with automatic sprinkler and domestic water piping. However, frigid temperatures also can affect other vital areas of your facility, including process piping, compressors and compressed air lines, instrumentation and control lines, valves and fittings, heating and air conditioning equipment, steam piping, boilers, water tanks, fire pumps and underground water mains.

Now, think about how each of these impairments would affect your day-to-day operations. Chances are, they would cause equipment damage that could shut down your entire facility. And, as the following example illus-trates, damage to one area can often result in damage to other areas. Before you know it, the whole chain of events has resulted in a large loss that could have been avoided or controlled.

When a severe cold front with ambient temperatures between 0 and 5 F (-18 and -15 C) moved through the southern United States one December, moisture in instrument air lines throughout a local pulp and paper mill froze, forc-ing a complete shutdown of the pulp process.

Over the next few days, lack of available steam hampered attempts to restart operations. Residual pulp stock was depleted and intermittent downtimes were reported on the paper machine as a result. Soon, wood chips stored in silos froze, making it difficult to get them to the digesters, and the

bleaching process cooled. Brightness requirements could not be met; cold temperatures and lack of steam caused an incomplete reaction of bleaching chemicals.

Gas curtailment was ordered by gas supply companies. And, when the mill began to switch over to alternate fuels, it discovered problems in these areas as well. The cold weather froze instrumentation on fuel oil systems, impaired fuel oil flow at the oil heaters, and caused bark fuel to freeze or slide off conveyors. As a result of this lack of fuel, fuel-fired equipment, such as kilns, bark boilers and power boilers, shut down. Black liquor recovery boilers eventually came off line due to lack of liquor, and various boiler instruments and controls began to freeze, despite efforts to protect equipment.

To make matters worse, piping and instrumentation in the demineralized water plant froze, and the plant could no longer produce enough water to keep all boilers on line. As a result, steam production—and, in turn, production in the pulp and paper areas of the mill—was affected.

Eventually, the combination of low temperatures and loss of heat that resulted from such boiler and equip-ment shutdowns proved too much for the plant’s industrial fire brigade personnel. Despite their continued efforts to protect sprinkler systems, various components began to freeze and, in the end, the whole chain of events had caused significant business interruption and physical damage to various instruments, piping systems and finished product—a catastrophe that could have been avoided with a little preplanning.

A Case Study in Loss Prevention

Protecting Your Pulp and Paper Mill from Winter Storms 4 of 10

Assessing Your VulnerabilityWhat does the upcoming winter season have in store for your facility?■■ Freezing temperatures that

damage piping systems?■■ Mounding or drifting snow that

collapses roofs?■■ Violent storms that disrupt

operations?

To prevent a significant freeze loss from unfolding at your facility, determine your exposure and then establish an emergency plan that meets your specific needs. The fol-lowing questions can help you assess your vulnerability to severe winter weather:■■ Does your locale usually experi-

ence temperate winters?

■■ Would wind direction or windchill affect your facility’s ability to withstand freezing temperatures?

■■ Has your locale ever experienced freezing temperatures or an accumulation of snow or ice?

■■ Do you ever shut down opera-tions during the winter holidays?

■■ Does heat generated by process equipment also supply or supplement building heat?

■■ Do building temperatures drop when process equipment is shut off?

If you answered yes to any of our questions, then you’re at risk of loss due to freezing.

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Property Loss Prevention SolutionsTo protect your facility, it’s important that mill personnel review opera-tions to determine key areas vital to your business continuity, protect equipment against freeze damage whenever possible, and plan accord-ingly. The following is a list of key areas that could impact your business operations in the event of a freeze-up at your pulp and paper mill. Whether that impact is positive or negative depends on how well you incorporate suggested measures into your emer-gency plan.

Contingency Planning Develop a contingency plan that addresses the following items in detail for each location:■■ Fuel curtailments■■ Loss of boiler feedwater supply

(including raw water supply)■■ Loss of critical

plant instrumentation■■ Alternate on-site fuel supplies

Each mill should develop a plan that addresses the question “what if?” and lists all counteractive measures to be taken. The plan should include lines of authority and personnel as-signments, areas of the plant to be specifically addressed, priority order of operation and shut down of equip-ment, any outside contractors needed to implement the plan, and alterna-tive supplies of fuel and power. For example, if fuel gas is curtailed, fuel oil supplies should be ready within a few hours. This plan will enable you to respond effectively, rather than des-perately, to an emergency situation.

Alternate Fuel Supply Fuel curtailment, primarily natural gas, has been a major factor at pulp and paper locations during freezes. In many cases, mills were asked to re-duce fuel usage by almost 75 percent. The ability to switch over to alternate fuel supplies, namely fuel oil and wood/bark chips, was hampered by problems with otherwise idle fuel equipment. Fuel oil systems

or instruments were frozen so that fuel parameters (e.g., flow, pressure) could not be controlled accurately.

Check alternate fuel supply equip-ment, such as oil tanks, pumps, pip-ing, instrumentation, heat exchang-ers and filling stations, for proper operation. Protect against freeze prior to the winter season, and monitor to ensure that freezing does not pre-vent operation when needed. Guard against heat exchanger equipment freeze-up if fuel oil is being used only as emergency fuel and the sys-tem is idle for extended periods.

Chip storage, either pile or bin, can freeze as well. When mills were able to get chips onto belt feeders, smooth-surfaced belts did not provide enough surface friction to carry frost-covered chips up relatively steep inclines. Arrange chip and bark fuel supplies for continued operations during inclement weather conditions. For example, use ribbed belts when surface friction is reduced due to freezing conditions.

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Critical Process Piping Protect critical liquid process piping with heat tracing. Electric heat trac-ing is more reliable than steam heat tracing (see “Testing” on page 7).

Feedwater Supply To protect against loss of boiler feedwater:

On new construction:■■ Provide enough demineralized

feedwater storage capacity to survive a 24-hour period of unin-terrupted plant demand consider-ing loss of condensate return.

On existing construction:■■ Provide electrical heat tracing

for instrumentation and piping located outside.

■■ Provide space heating for the water treatment plant. This provision may include the need for building enclosures as well.

Outdoor construction can be millwide in many locations, making it neces-sary to protect key areas of the mill against freezing. The water treatment plant is one of those areas. The plant should be protected so continuous operations will not be affected. Heat-traced piping and instrumenta-tion will help the water treatment personnel maintain supplies during freezing conditions.

Critical Instruments Protect the following critical instru-mentation and instrument-sensing lines by heat tracing and heated insulated instrument cabinets:■■ Feedwater controls■■ Deaerator controls■■ Boiler drum level controls■■ Fuel line instrumentation■■ Water plant instrumentation

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Frozen instrumentation is a problem in most outdoor areas of the mill because instrument-sensing lines and instrument air lines freeze, espe-cially in the steam plant. Without the boilers on line, plant operations will come to a halt and process piping will freeze. Heat-tracing vital instruments, as identified, will help to avoid down-stream operating problems.

Provide air dryers for instrument air supply. Check the performance of the dryers before and periodically throughout the winter season to avoid condensation freezing problems in instrument air lines.

Testing Test all electrically heat-traced circuits for proper operation prior to the winter season to make sure wiring is intact and each circuit will

respond properly to changing ambient temperatures. Electrical heat tracing is preferred over steam tracing. Idle steam-tracing circuits collect conden-sate and experience has shown such circuits can freeze, rendering the heat tracing ineffective. However, where they are installed, make every effort to verify proper working order prior to and throughout the winter season.

Idle Equipment Drain and store equipment that will be idle for extended periods of time, such as boilers and piping systems. Use a desiccant to keep moisture from building up in equipment. As part of contingency planning, decide which equipment or piping should be drained ahead of time and which equipment should be drained as it comes off line during the freeze.

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TrainingAdd freeze precautions to the operator’s training program so freeze contingency plans can be expedi-tiously implemented. Incorporate the information into operating manuals, and conduct special review sessions before winter to inform operators of past problems and prepare them for the upcoming season.

Operating after the freeze condi-tion can be difficult as well. If some instruments and piping freeze and rupture, thawing conditions can lead to faulty instrument readings and subsequent operating upsets. If it is known the freeze has affected certain instruments, they should be removed from the control loop until they are repaired. Therefore, operators should be alert to these potential problems and ready to take appropriate control actions.

Sprinkler SystemsFreezing of automatic sprinkler systems is a major concern during severe cold weather. Even facilities protected by dry-pipe sprinkler systems are susceptible to frozen sprinkler risers, frozen low points where water condensation occurs, as well as accidental trips. Low-point drains should be checked regularly to prevent freezing. A fire that occurs when automatic sprinkler system protection is out of service can be devastating.

Consider frozen sprinkler piping an impairment and give it top priority. To help with this matter, use FM Global’s Red Tag Permit System to monitor any impairment to fire protection equipment. First, deter-mine how much of the sprinkler system is affected. Lay out hoses and portable extinguishers. Notify your FM Global office and the local public

An unprepared, unprotect-ed facility is an easy target for a winter casualty. With sound preplanning, your facility stands the best chance of maintaining a strong defense against whatever the upcoming winter season has in store.

Protecting Your Pulp and Paper Mill from Winter Storms 9 of 10

fire service. If only a small section of a system is affected, consider iso-lating the frozen section and immedi-ately restoring the rest of the system to service.

For larger freeze-ups, temporarily shut off the sprinkler system, turn up the building’s heat, and bring in and safely arrange portable heaters.

Avoid the use of torches, oil and gasoline-fuel heaters where building construction or contents are combustible.

Check the following when preparing a facility for cold weather:■■ Low points in sprinkler

system piping■■ Adequacy of heat for dry-pipe

valve riser enclosures■■ Fire pump rooms■■ Water tanks

The Emergency Response TeamA well-trained emergency response team (ERT), ready to deal with prestorm precautions as well as events during and after the storm, is essential. When storms loom for an extended period of time, have ERT personnel patrol the building, looking for cold spots, structural damage, large leaks or sprinkler piping breaks. Provide ERT members with phone numbers of outside contractors who can immediately repair breaks in the sprinkler system, and remember to follow the FM Global Red Tag Per-mit System to help monitor impair-ments to fire protection systems.

After the storm has passed, it’s criti-cal to restore impaired fire protection systems quickly. Prohibit hot work operations in areas where automatic sprinklers are being repaired. Re-move combustible debris, and ban smoking in these areas. Keep an eye out for leaking flammable gas, flammable liquid, live power lines and structures in danger of falling or collapse. Separate damaged from undamaged goods, and cover equip-ment and stock to protect it against further exposure.

Be PreparedEvery winter storm has its own inher-ent twist. Naturally, you can’t predict what the upcoming winter season might bring. However, there are some general preventive wmeasures you can take now to prepare and protect your facility against the problems brought on by cold weather (see FM Global’s publication, Freeze-Up Checklist [P9521]). Discuss these measures with your FM Global en-gineer and design a strategy that best suits your needs.

Remember, an unprepared, unpro-tected facility is an easy target for a winter casualty. With sound preplan-ning, including the development of a winter emergency action plan, your facility stands the best chance of maintaining a strong defense against whatever the upcoming winter season has in store.

P0049 © 2004 FM Global (Rev 10/2015) All rights reserved. fmglobal.com

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